Differences between driving in the seventies and today

Doesn't triple T in Tucson do full service or did they stop that?

 

Comfort was an after thought in most cases. Cold? Put on more clothes. Hot? Open that wing window all the way. Remember gear wrenches? Have a flat tire? You changed it yourself. Another driver saw you doing that and they would stop and help. Break down and there would be two or three drivers trying to help you. Someone had a part that you needed, they would give it to you. Pay them later.

If you talked to those that drove in the 40's-50's, they thought what we had was luxury.

 

I started in 1987 in a 74 astro that also had no AC , thankfully I only had to drive the old stuff a year or so before I moved up into newer equipment.
As previously stated logs were a joke and I didnt get much sleep .
Today my dispatcher jokingly said I've getting lazy the couple years ...i said ...yep ! I'm getting back all the sleep i didnt get from 1987 to 2010 .

 

Truck engines were real back than.....this plastic, computer controlled,
"shutdown over nothing" junk we have now are completely useless.

Truck tires.....the good ones....are way better than they used to be.

Trucks do ride better.....as do the new air ride trailers. Brakes are better
too.

The laid back......time to stop for a real meal......lifestyle was way better
back than. I hate this run wide open.....no time to stop.....lifestyle of today.

The companies used to buy quality trucks.....trucks the drivers took pride in
driving.

Back than many of the company owners were former drivers.....guys that
knew about trucking......now many are college educated idiots that don't
know what a truck is much less what a REAL truck is. Back than if you went
into the office and told the boss something was wrong with the truck the boss
knew exactly what was wrong...……….now the boss has no idea what the truck
is much less what might be wrong with it. I get so tired of trying to explain to
nincompoop bosses what is wrong and why it needs to be fixed.

I started for a small 8 truck company. We seldom ever had unscheduled
break downs. Now the location I work for has 12 trucks...….on any given day
at least 1 truck is down. Back than we did not keep a spare truck.....now we
need at least one if not two spares.

Back than there were not very many large tow trucks.....now every towing
company owns at least one large tow truck. Some here in town own 5 or 6
large tow trucks.....and they are all busy. Semi-trucks used to be more dependable
than passenger cars......now passenger cars are more dependable than semi-trucks.

I would absolutely go back if I somehow could...………….

 

To me the two biggest plagues on society are plastics and the internet. The use of plastics has exploded over the last 40 years. Very little of it gets recycled and it's becoming a real pollution problem around the world. The internet has changed the general behavior of the human race, and not for the better. Instant knowledge about everything around the world, and internet shaming of anybody who doesn't agree with your opinion is simply senseless. I would much rather be in a world where I got my news from the radio/TV (when journalists could be trusted to report the news), and have a note waiting for me when I returned to the office that somebody had called for me.

 

Engines were the same, they broke down at the worst time.

People have this idea they were more dependable but many of them averaged 650k before the died.

We didn't have these comforts because this was acceptable to us, not a hobby or a paid vacation, if you wanted comfort, you bought a Lincoln.

The biggest difference between when I started and now is we didn't sit around the sleeper gaming or watching tv, we got out, we mingled, we talked to each other as if we were in this all together and it wasn't just a job.

 

Started in 74.
Buddy the same age got the gig cause his dad was a driver and he knew his way around a truck.
Used to let me drive as we peddled dairy queen stops in the upper midwest.
It had a 8-track player and I had tapes so all was good.
First 2 months or so driving a decent international coe w a 13 speed I could upshift ok but thru towns or catch a light I couldn't find the gear or right range for speed and had to pull off onto the shoulder and start from a stop..lol

Seems like ages ago but I don't think anything remains as it was except most of the two lanes.

 

The engines were NOT the same. They leaked oil and water but they seldom
died for no reason. I don't remember ever calling a tow truck for an engine problem.
Now they die for no reason at all. Just in the last 6 months we have called a tow truck
4 times......every time but once it was a computer issue. Countless times we have
limped one in to the yard......less than 20 miles......all over Computer issues.

It is true that they often had to be rebuilt before 650k.....but spend about
$15,000 on a rebuild and they ran another 650k. Now many companies are
trading before 500k because the EGR cooler/DEF systems cost so much to
redo.....the engine itself might not be bad but it costs too much to fix
every thing else on the truck. We ran many a truck from one rebuild to the
next without one tow truck ride ever.....you can't say that about very many
of todays trucks.

There are a few "old" trucks out there that have well over two million miles.....
better condition than the new ones. I doubt whether any of these new ones will
ever see one million miles much less two million.


WE did have to carry engine oil and engine coolant jugs......checked vitals
daily because they did leak a lot......but they seldom died for no reason.